32 THE RED-TAILED BUZZARD. 



Bill light blue at the base, with the margins yellowish, the tip black; the 

 cere yellow. Iris hazel. Feet yellow; claws black, at the base bluish. The 

 general colour of the upper parts is chocolate-brown. The quills are of the 

 general colour externally, but the primaries are black toward the tip; a great 

 part of the inner web, with the shaft, white, and barred with brownish-black, 

 the bars more extended on the secondaries. The tail is marked with about 

 ten dusky bars on a reddish-brown ground, tinged with grey, the last dark 

 bar broader, the tips paler. The eyelids are whitish, as is the throat, which 

 is longitudinally streaked with dusky. The rest of the lower parts are 

 yellowish or brownish-white, barred with brown. The lower wing-coverts 

 are white, barred or spotted with dusky; the white of the inner webs of the 

 primaries forms a conspicuous patch, contrasted with the greyish-black of 

 their terminal portion. 



Length to end of tail 23 inches; wing from flexure 17; tail 10^; bill along 

 the ridge 1 T 8 2, along the edge of lower mandible 1^; tarsus 3^; hind toe 1, 

 its claw l-j^; middle toe 1-ff, its claws lyj. 



Another specimen in my possession, procured by Mr. Townsend on the 

 plains of Snake River, has the upper parts brown, streaked and spotted with 

 reddish-white; the upper tail-coverts white, barred with dusky, the lower 

 parts as above described. The colours however vary, and in some the upper 

 parts are deep brown, the lower reddish or brownish-white, barred with 

 reddish-brown. 



When compared with European specimens, mine have the bill somewhat 

 stronger; but in all other respects, including the scutella and scales of the 

 feet and toes, and the structure of the wings and tail, the parts are similar. 



THE RED- TAILED BUZZARD. 



Buteo borealis, Gmel. 

 PLATE VII.— Male and Female. 



The Red-tailed Hawk (Buzzard) is a constant resident in the United States, 

 in every part of which it is found. It performs partial migrations, during 

 severe winters, from the Northern Districts towards the Southern. In the 

 latter, however, it is at all times more abundant, and I shall endeavour to 

 present you with a full account of its habits, as observed there. 



